Scuttle leftovers, June 28, 2014

June 29, 2014 - Burt Angeli

ScuttleBu(r)t ...

As near as I can figure, there’s about 10 states that prohibit hunting on Sunday. Nature enthusiasts, according to one source, want one day to walk in the woods without getting plunked ... Cliff Christl, Green Bay Packer team historian, ranked players where “injuries robbed them of great or even greater careers.”

Lynn Dickey, who visited Dickinson County this April with the team caravan, wound up on the list. Hip and leg ailments troubled the quarterback.

“As good as Aaron Rodgers is at it, Dickey might still be the best long-ball passer in the Lambeau Field years (since 1957) of the Packers,” Christl wrote. “Maybe the most picture perfect passer. His arm was special. He was football smart. He had everything but mobility.” ...

From Mike Lupica, New York Daily News: “On that story about whether Rex Ryan might have loaned a playbook to Nick Saban, who might have loaned it to Bill Belichick? I'm just always excited when I hear football coaches have started a new reading group.” ...

From Nick Cafardo, Boston Globe baseball expert: “One scout who recently spent time with the (Milwaukee) Brewers’ team in the Southern League was astonished by some of its arms. And most of them were older, high-round draft picks throwing in the mid to high 90s. They included closer Tanner Poppe and fellow relievers David Goforth and Tim Dillard. Starter Tyler Cravy went 8-1 with a 1.72 ERA and 0.85 WHIP before being promoted to Triple A Nashville.” ...

Vikings wide receivers coach George Stewart seems to be endorsing carrots, telling Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press: "You talk about any running back, any receiver, the vision's the thing that’s first and foremost.”

JC Tretter (6-foot-4, 307 pounds), expected to be the Packers center this season, was a quarterback and basketball point guard in high school ...

From Deacon Jones, San Diego Padres' hitting coach for the late Tony Gwynn: “He'll get some funky hits and then he'll hit a line drive that you could hang three weeks' wash on. There isn't a pitcher in the league who wants Tony Gwynn up with a runner on third base. You know he'll make contact." ...

Rob Reiner, 67, actor (“Meathead” to Archie Bunker) and movie director, asked about running for governor of California: “Nah. I sat with my family at one point, and there are five of us. I polled 40 percent. If I can't carry my own family, I probably shouldn't run."

Also from Rob Reiner: “No matter what I do in my life ... I could win the Nobel Prize and it would say, Meathead wins the Nobel Prize." ...

My boys in Vegas, this would be the downtown Golden Nugget and hangout of “1641 Parkview” for NCAA basketball trips, have set the line for major college football games.

For Wisconsin’s Aug. 30 battle with LSU, the Badgers have dropped to 7-point underdogs.

Our area youth baseball catchers can learn from Jack Porter of Wellesley (Mass.) High. The three-year starter and captain is on his game every moment, even during warm-ups. “I’ve been taught the right way, which is from inning one to inning nine, and even practice before, just be sure you’re doing the same thing you’d be doing in the game,” Porter told the Boston Globe. “It builds confidence in the pitchers. If I can do a good job behind the plate, they’ll have confidence in themselves. I just try to do everything I can to make sure the pitchers are comfortable and confident.” ...

Big Ten football recruiting expenses, according to the Cedar Rapids Gazette: Nebraska, league-high $818,000; Wisconsin, $256,000; Michigan State, from $383,000 in 2011 to $627,000 last year, and Michigan, $664,000 ...

From the late Michigan State football coach Duffy Daugherty, on the stages of life according to Tim Staudt of the Lansing State Journal: "There are three stages in life — youth, middle age and you're looking good."